• 70pc accident victims are young motorcyclists, experts say
• Parents urged not to allow underage boys to ride motorcycles

KARACHI: A health conference was on Friday informed that around 500 people, mostly motorcyclists, suffered injuries in road traffic accidents in Karachi on a daily basis and were brought to emergency units of different hospitals for treatment.

A significant number of the victims face permanent disability which changes their lives forever, said a senior orthopaedic surgeon said.

Hundreds of trauma surgeons, medical specialists and students are attending the two-day 36th International Pak Orthocon 2023 of the Pakistan Orthopaedic Association (POA), which is being organised by the Peoples University of Medical and Health Sciences for Women (PUMHSW), Nawabshah, in Karachi.

Discussions on bones, injuries, trauma, infections, joint replacements, bone health issues in women, children and elderly, osteoporosis and advancements in the field of orthopaedics were held at the two-day moot.

Hundreds of research papers and studies were being presented by national and international speakers, organisers said.

The experts said that millions of rupees were spent daily on treatment of multiple trauma injury victims in the city which could be prevented through an organised way of life and an integrated healthcare system.

Around 70 per cent of victims of trauma injuries taken to hospitals in the city were young motorcyclists.

They suffered from polytrauma injuries and required expensive treatment, surgeries, medical implants and medications on regular basis, which would be a live-changing experience for them, the experts said.

According to the World Health Organisation, road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5-29 years while approximately 1.3 million people die each year as a result of road traffic crashes.

More than half of all road traffic deaths are among vulnerable road users: pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists, WHO fact sheet on road traffic trauma injuries says.

Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon Prof Badruddin Sahito said that every day around 500 Karachiites suffered injuries in road traffic accidents.

He deplored that trauma injuries were “not considered diseases” and because of that no measures were taken to prevent people from getting injured on roads in Pakistan.

He said billions of rupees could be saved by preventing road accidents as well as youngsters could be saved from becoming disabled for the rest of their lives by following traffic rules strictly.

“We need to ensure that traffic rules are followed on roads. Pakistani motorcyclists are the most reckless drivers as mostly they don’t have licences and training, which could save their own lives. Getting killed or becoming physically disabled is also a cause of trauma for families of young people,” Dr Sahito added.

Bad condition of roads

Former head of the orthopaedics department at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre Prof Ghulam Mehboob said that bad condition of roads, untrained motorcyclists and failure to obey traffic rules were major reasons behind traumatic injuries in Pakistan.

He urged parents not to allow underage boys to ride motorcycles on roads.

“In case a young boy is killed or badly injured in a road accident, his parents should be put behind bars for negligence,” Prof Ghulam Mehboob said and urged traffic police to strictly implement traffic laws to prevent deaths and disability due to accidents in Pakistan.

Renowned knee replacement surgeon Dr Shahid Noor said old age, obesity, family history and previous trauma were some of the risk factors for problems of knees.

He said that only five per cent of people with knee pain required knee replacements while rest of them could be treated with medications and therapies.

He maintained that knee replacement could improve the quality of live if it was carried out by an experienced and trained surgeon.

“Top quality implants are used nowadays and hospitals where these procedures are performed have the best infection prevention and control practices in place.”

Chairman of the scientific committee of the conference Prof Asadullah Makhdoom said experts from the United States, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Turkey, Middle Eastern countries and Far East were presenting new techniques and their works at the conference to train young Pakistani orthopaedic surgeons and specialists.

It would improve the healthcare practices in the area of orthopaedics in Pakistan, he added.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2023